by jakeowensby | Dec 23, 2022 | Luke 2:1-20
This year I’ve been asking people what they’re favorite Christmas movie or TV special is. The answers have varied by people’s generation. The titles I’ve heard include: “It’s a Wonderful Life” “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” “Elf” “Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer”, and...
by jakeowensby | Dec 18, 2021 | Luke 2:1-20
The angels said to the shepherds, “To you is born this day … a Savior.” And once the angels had gone, the shepherds headed into Bethlehem to see for themselves. What they found there was an exhausted young mother. A vigilant new father. And a baby. A baby lying in a...
by jakeowensby | Dec 20, 2019 | Christmas, grace, Luke 2:1-20
God was born. Just let that sink in. The architect of galaxies and protons, the maker of hard iron and tender flesh, the infinite, all-powerful source from which all things come to be and upon which the entire cosmos depends, became a human. And God did it just like...
by jakeowensby | Dec 20, 2018 | John 1:1-14, Luke 2:1-20
When our now-adult children were small, we would pile into the car after supper and ride around looking at Christmas lights. We deliberately chose neighborhoods whose streets were lined with glittering homes and with yards dotted by illuminated crèches, snowmen, and...
by jakeowensby | Dec 24, 2016 | Luke 2:1-20, Uncategorized
[Listen to Audio] Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without Nativity Scenes. Artisans fashion the holy family from ceramic or wood or stone. Mass-produced plastic figures illuminate front yards. A nativity scene constructed from bacon showed up on my Facebook news feed....
by jakeowensby | Dec 20, 2016 | Luke 2:1-20, Uncategorized
In the rural, small-town Deep South, people still frequently get acquainted by asking some version of the question, “Who are your people?” It’s intended as a friendly gesture. Some families have lived in the same town—and even attended the same church—for as long as...
